Officials fight for water over Passover, Easter

Posted
Friday, April 19, 2019 7:51 pm

By MICHAEL HINMAN

The holidays start this weekend, and some of the community’s elected officials hope that whether it’s a celebration of Easter or Passover, the city will ensure there is water coming out of the spigots.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Andrew Cohen have asked the city’s design and construction department to hold off on water service interruptions between April 19 and April 29. The idea is to not only keep water running, but maybe even make some street parking available.

“My constituents have been bearing these aggravating water shutdowns and parking scarcity with grace and goodwill for almost a year now,” Dinowitz said, in a release. “We should give them the opportunity to cook and observe these important holidays in peace without worrying about whether or not they will have water to cook with while they’re doing so.”

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel also jumped into the fray last week when a scheduled water service interruption for South Riverdale was cancelled and potentially moved to the holiday week.

“It would be the highest level of inconsideration for the city to turn the water off on families during Easter and Passover,” Engel said, in a release. “People prepare for the holidays days beforehand, and need to have water to do so. My office told city officials that any rescheduled work must be completed either this week or after the holidays have concluded. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure local residents aren’t unfairly burdened over the holy days.”

Heated senate exchange has roots in The Press

An argument between state senators over how social media is being used made its way into the pages of The New York Times last week. And it seems to have all been in response to an editorial that appeared in The Riverdale Press.

Brooklyn Sen. Kevin Parker — not known for having the best social media etiquette himself after telling former Independent Democratic Conference spokeswoman Candice Giove to “kill yourself” on Twitter — claimed some new senators, like Alessandra Biaggi, were working against the party on social media instead of with it.

The issue, according to the Times report, stemmed from an April 7 tweet where Biaggi said, “This is not a dictatorship, this is a democracy. Who needs to be reminded?”

In the same tweet, she quoted the April 4 Press editorial, “Budget some time to change,” where the newspaper said “a strong governor is great. But one too powerful undermines the democratic process.”

The argument, according to the Times, ended with Parker taking off his necktie and throwing it down, declaring himself “unbeatable” in case anyone wished to challenge him in a Democratic primary.

Biaggi reportedly told those attending the closed-door meeting that while newly elected senators like herself understood they didn’t speak for the whole party, according to the Times, they would continue to use social media and other outlets to push the agenda they campaigned on.